Tuesday, August 4, 2009

IBM opens advanced analytics center in China

Today IBM announced the launch of the China Analytics Solutions Center in Beijing, China. The press release states the advanced analytics center is "part of a network of global centers addressing the growing demand for advanced analytics capabilities needed to help clients build smarter business systems and drive improved decision-making."

News of the analytics center follows last week's announcement of IBM's intent to acquire SPSS, a predictive analytics technology company that helps clients forecast trends to drive smarter business outcomes.

IBM also recently announced the Smart Analytics System, the industry’s first comprehensive offering that helps organization harness the power of analytics to make intelligent business decisions up to three times faster and requiring up to 50 percent less storage - saving space and energy.

The acquisition, the new analytics center in China, analytics-ready solutions....all examples of IBM's expanding analytics strategy.

But why analytics?

An emergence of new smarter systems which are interconnected and streaming real time information are presenting organizations with unique opportunities and challenges. Businesses and governments are using data and sophisticated analytics to transform decision making.

The time is ripe for organizations to use this data to predict business outcomes, optimize old systems and spot trends before they happen.

For example, the Mobile County Public Schools, the largest school district in Alabama, has selected IBM analytics technology to more effectively measure student performance, immediately identify students "at risk," and adjust academic programs in real-time in order to best deliver smarter education services that prepare students with 21st century skills.

Areas such as electronic health records, education, smart grids, and financial risk management are creating a growing demand for sophisticated business analytics. IBM's organic and acquisitive growth have IBM well positioned to help our clients rethink their systems and apply business analytics in new ways for smarter decisions.